High-level officials not entitled to same level of health privacy as public
Many zealously guard their privacy when it comes to health and medical procedures. That’s appropriate for those of us who aren’t presidents, governors, big-city mayors — or defense secretaries.
When people in critical positions like that fall seriously ill or are hospitalized, they’re not entitled to the same level of privacy as the rest of us. That’s the nature of their jobs.
When they’re incapacitated or compromised for health reasons, whether mental or physical, they need to let the public know and also to cede authority to a trusted subordinate while they’re out of action. There’s no shame implied; health issues should come first for all of us, however important our jobs.
Stark case in point, nonetheless: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed not only to inform the public when he was hospitalized with what remains an undisclosed health issue; he also kept President Joe Biden and the rest of the White House in the dark for several days. Likewise, his secondin-command, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathy
Hicks, was unaware of the seriousness of Austin’s situation until days later even though she was nominally in charge of the Pentagon — while she was on a scheduled vacation in
Puerto Rico.
All of this occurred as foreign conflicts rage, and the U.S. itself is directly engaged in limited hostilities in the Middle East.
Austin is fiercely protective of his privacy, we learned over the weekend, which apparently explains his transparency failures.
After his absence was reported, he took tepid responsibility, saying in a statement Saturday he “could have done a better job ensuring the public was better informed.”
At the same time, he doubled down on keeping his specific ailments private; he remained in a military hospital on Sunday, nearly a week after being admitted.
He said nothing about his failure to keep the nation’s commander in chief in the loop.
So, predictably, the controversy continues to swirl, a headache the Biden administration doesn’t need as global conflicts continue to require skilled management.
A more fulsome mea culpa surely would have helped to reassure both the public and fellow administration officials that Austin understands the seriousness of his error here.
Previous defense secretaries, the Wall Street Journal noted, have been transparent about such things.
In 2008, Secretary Robert Gates notified the public he’d broken his arm; in
2006, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disclosed he was having rotator cuff surgery and would be out of commission for a discrete period of time.
We have heard no good reason for Austin to break with those precedents.
If Austin or other highlevel public officials — again, we’re talking about those whose jobs put them on crisis notice at all times — are so sensitive about their health matters that they can’t meet this basic level of disclosure, then they shouldn’t seek and serve in that level of responsibility.
We expect to be informed when a president, governor or big-city mayor is incapacitated temporarily or hospitalized.
The Chicago Tribune